Shaping Destiny: The Story of Rebekah
PARASHAT TOL’DOT (“generations”) begins with Isaac but focuses heavily on Rebekah as the more active member of this family. Rebekah runs the family and undertakes the task of determining the destiny of God’s blessings. As the one who blesses, Isaac has authority; but in determining who gets blessed—seemingly against Isaac’s intentions—Rebekah has the power. She independently seeks God and alone receives God’s answer about the future.
This parashah recounts a family story. A mother gives birth to twins, Esau and Jacob; and from the beginning, the brothers vie for prominence and their parents’ favor. Like other biblical narratives in Genesis, this parashah is also concerned with self-definition—with the identity of the Israelite community in relation to surrounding peoples and cultures. Rebekah’s twins represent two distinct nations: Israel and Edom.
Rebekah occupies center stage in several key scenes. Energetically, Rebekah ensures that the covenantal blessings will be bestowed on the more suitable son. Isaac, eclipsed by his parents, wife, and offspring, simply goes along—passively and gently surviving.
As Alice Bellis observes, interpreters often object to Rebekah’s manipulations of her husband, comparing her unfavorably with Sarah’s treatment of Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21, as if “[abusing] a woman servant is acceptable; deceiving a man, even to achieve God’s mission, is not” (Helpmates, Harlots, and Heroes: Women’s Stories in the Hebrew Bible, 1994, p. 83). The Torah, however, presents Rebekah as a figure without whom the covenant will not continue properly, the necessary link between Abraham’s blessing and Jacob’s.
—Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
Hara E. Person
Outline—
I. REBEKAH BECOMES THE MOTHER OF TWINS (25:19–26)
II. FAVORITISM AND THE SELLING OF THE BIRTHRIGHT (25:27–34)
III. ISAAC AND REBEKAH “VISIT” ABIMELECH
Isaac at the Center (26:1–33)
A. Isaac receives the covenant promise (vv. 1–5)
B. Isaac passes his wife off as his sister (vv. 6–11)
C. Isaac digs wells, loses them, persists, and prospers (vv. 12–33)
IV. ESAU MARRIES CANAANITE WIVES (26:34–35)
V. REBEKAH ENSURES THE TRANSMISSION OF THE COVENANTAL BLESSINGS TO JACOB (27:1–28:9)
A. Isaac prepares to bless Esau (27:1–4)
B. Rebekah arranges for Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing instead (27:5–17)
C. Jacob steals Esau’s blessing (27:18–29)
D. Esau discovers the deception (27:30–40)
E. Rebekah convinces Isaac to send Jacob away (27:41–28:9)